We’re pulling out all the stops in our effort to find a collaborative way to interact with you, our readers, as we delve into Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird," an Alabama classic that many haven't picked up since high school.

Along with the 30-plus staff members who will help guide the discussion, we have some of the south's best authors signed on to give their insights and opinions, among them Fannie Flagg, Winston Groom, Mark Childress, Keith Thomson, TK Thorne and Warren St. John.

Your participation is critical

Throughout the course of this book club, you can expect to see chapter summaries posted each Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Look for specific discussion topics on Wednesdays, and feature stories interspersed throughout the five weeks.

Your participation is what’s going to determine our success. We want to hear your input. Use the comments section in each of the stories to discuss points that have been made - and to raise issues we may not have taken on. Our hope is that you will have as much - or more - to add to the discussion as we do.

To comment, you must be signed up for a free AL.com account. If you’ve never commented on AL.com before, go to the top bar on this page, click on the "Sign In" icon and scroll down to "Register now for free." If you get stuck, email me at jsawyer@al.com and I will help you get it figured out.

We strongly encourage you to sign up for a new account using your full name as the display name. This isn't a requirement, but we think it will help make the discussion even richer.

The advantage of this online book club over a traditional one is that your comments will be welcome whenever you have the time to share them. Our hope is that someone will always be around to agree, disagree or debate your opinions and insights.

Also, if you haven't yet, be sure to sign up for the Red Clay Readers Email Newsletter. You can find that sign-up box at www.al.com/books located on the right side of the page.

This week

AL.com’s Cheryl Wray will discuss chapters one and two, and famed author Winston Groom will talk on video about when he first read the book. That post will be online at 1 p.m. Monday, March 24.

We'll take a look at chapters three and four on Wednesday, with a video assist from author Kat Kennedy, and our week will wrap up Friday with chapters five and six - and a word from author Rick Bragg.

Tomorrow we're going to jump right into our study with a question about the "n-word," one of the most controversial words in the English language - and one that pops up frequently throughout the text of "To Kill a Mockingbird."

Get your thoughts together, and meet us back here Monday as we prepare to discuss this Alabama classic.

AL.com's Red Clay Readers, in partnership with the Alabama Center for Literary Arts, is a book club designed to take a fresh look at a southern classic with the help of our readers. The first version of the club, which focuses on "To Kill a Mockingbird," will culminate with a panel discussion at the Alabama Writers Symposium in Monroeville on April 25. Click here to get 20% off your copy of the book at Books a Million.